A Conversational Mind

John Spencer responded this morning to the front-page story in the News, in which he is quoted at length talking about Hillary's physical appearance, ("You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew,") and predicting defeat for fellow Republican Jeanine Pirro. Less than a day after practically introducing himself to New Yorkers on television, this is surely not the best way for Spencer to ingratiate himself to the state's voters or G.O.P.

And so Spencer, who complimented Hillary during the debate as a potentially "tremendous" presidential candidate, kicked into damage control mode this morning. He said on the WABC radio program Curtis and Kuby (audio on its way) that Ben, who reported the story, didn't hear him correctly. (Ben was sitting right next to one seat away from him, and said he typed Spencer's words directly into his omnipresent Blackberry.)

"It's so ridiculous that Ben Smith the blogger sitting next to me on an airplane, who quite frankly, made statements that I surely wouldn't repeat about other candidates in the race. He was in a giddy mood making statements, so I think in his conversational mind with a jet engine blowing in his right ear, uh, we had a rambling conversation about the sixties. That's what our conversation was about and how he came out with those ridiculous fabrications is beyond me."

Ben said he stands by his story. UPDATE: Here's that clip of Spencer. The denial seems to fit into Spencer's pattern of denying his own quotes.

-- Azi Paybarah